Open Harvest Farm Tours

by BJ Birkel, Marketing/IT Assistant Manager

Thiltges are remodeling a schoolhouse for an on-site farm store near Rulo.

The new Harvest to Harvest program helps shoppers identify local products in our Co-op. The goal of this program is to provide a connection between the people who grow, raise, and make the products we carry at our Co-op and the consumers who purchase them. The farm tours are another aspect of the Harvest to Harvest program.

Open Harvest staff began the first in a series of farm tours on Tuesday, June 8th. The tours took Open Harvest managers Jim Nelson, Alex Wolfe, and BJ Birkel to Bluff Valley Farm near Rulo, Neb. and Plum Creek Farm near Burchard, Neb.

Lambs from Bluff Valley Farm.

Our first stop took to us to Bluff Valley Farm where we met Ken Thiltges, owner and operator. Bluff Valley Farm has been in his family for six generations. Ken raises hormone and antibiotic-free lamb that we sell in our meat department. He introduced us to his flock of sheep and showed us his system of rotating grazing pastures. Ken also took us out to the fields where he grows non-GMO grains for animal feed. We visited the century old country schoolhouse Ken is in the process of remodeling into his very own at-home store.

Plum Creek Farm raises chickens for Open Harvest.

The second stop on our farm tour took us to Dean Dvorak's Plum Creek Farm. Dean raises the fresh, cagefree chicken that we sell at our Co-op. The chickens are hormone and antibiotic-free. We toured the open air coops where Dean houses his chickens. Dean also provides delicious local chicken to many restaurants in both Lincoln and Omaha.

We extend our thanks to both Bluff Valley Farm and Plum Creek Farm for their generous hospitality.